Image by madaise, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. Most modern scientists assume that the speed of light is constant, which is part of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Specifically, this theory plays a role in the conceptualization of what occurred in the very early universe, seconds after the Big Bang. However, some researchers have recently posited that the speed of light may have been much higher in this early universe than it currently is. This is one of many concepts that parapsychology researcher Rupert Sheldrake presented in his research on how the universal gravitational constant varies. These researchers have developed a test that will be able to identify changes in light speed, which would change our understanding of how the universe expanded. One of the issues with the constant light speed theory is that it doesn't allow for enough time for light to have traveled to where it is in the cosmos. However, light traveling at a faster initial speed would fill in that gap and force scientists to rethink their idea of how the early universe was formed.
2. As a former librarian (I worked at a music library for a couple years in college), I would've loved to have seen this recent video from TED-Ed that explains the quickest way to sort books. The technique is borrowed from computer programming language and is able to sort books (or other items) much quicker than other techniques. During the past few moves that I have gone through during the last couple years, I have found myself naturally using this technique to sort my own items—DVDs, CDs, books, etc. However, I'm also in the process of getting rid of nearly all of my physical media. In fact, I no longer have any DVDs or CDs in my house, and have sold/donated/gifted over half of my print book collection within the past year. Regardless, this educational video is a fun watch for anyone interested in learning to sort more efficiently!
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.